National Express And Norfolk Partners Shortlisted For Community Rail Awards

The awards celebrate outstanding achievement in community rail development. The rail operator and several key partners around the region have been shortlisted for the following initiatives.

In the ‘Outstanding Teamwork’ category National Express East Anglia, Norfolk County Council, North Norfolk District Council, Railfuture and Paston College have been shortlisted for their work regarding the North Walsham Station Travel Plan. The travel plan had four basic objectives, to improve station interchange facilities and hence increase the numbers of people arriving at the station by sustainable modes of transport such as cycling, walking and by bus. Also, to reduce the carbon footprint of customers travelling to and from the station and improve the overall customer satisfaction of with the whole journey experience.   

In the ‘Passengers Matter’ category National Express East Anglia, the Bittern Line Community Rail Partnership and Paston College have been nominated for their work to increase student travel on the Bittern Line. Work was undertaken to promote the train service within the college. Paston College also amended their times to fit in better with the train service and the college also undertook to provide mini-buses and taxis to transport students to Hoveton and Wroxham station, from where they could join the Bittern line train service to North Walsham station. The initiative has led to an increase in the numbers of students using the train service and thereby cutting their carbon footprint when travelling to and from the college.

Anita Stuart National Express East Anglia’s Rural Area Manager said:

“I would like to thank our staff, partners and volunteers across Norfolk for their hard work in achieving these places on the Community Rail Awards shortlist. Being shortlisted for the Community Rail Awards illustrates our deep-seated commitment to creating sustainable local train services. We will continue to work with our partners and take a proactive approach to improving our stations and train service still further in the future.”

The ACORP Community Rail Awards 2011 will be held on Friday 23 September at the City Hall, Sheffield. For more information please log on to www.acorp.uk.com/